Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 34955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
“What did you hear?” Sebastian’s tone was tense. There weren’t two brothers who could be any more different.
“That Thatcher sliced off his finger for touching me.”
“Shit,” Sebastian muttered the word. He’d been hoping I still lived in ignorance. A part of me did too. It was easier. My little bubble of happiness. The one where my Prince Charming isn’t a psychopath.
“And Christopher,” I said.
“He didn’t slice any of Christopher’s body parts,” Sebastian said quickly.
“But he shot him.”
“In the shoulder. He’s fine. Alive and well. We got him an excellent job at a stable north of Atlanta.”
He defended him so easily. That brother bond was strong, but I knew that King, Storm, and even Wells would do the same—come to his defense, act as if his actions weren’t insane. It was what they did. They were all joined together in this life, one that I didn’t truly understand, it seemed.
“But he can’t race anymore,” I said, feeling the guilt weigh heavier on my chest, to the point that it hurt to breathe.
Sebastian let out a heavy sigh. He had no defense for that. No way to make it sound better. Because there wasn’t one. “He was compensated. He doesn’t even have to work again if he doesn’t want to. There is no mortgage on his home.”
I shook my head. Money didn’t fix everything. “But that doesn’t make it better.”
“I know.”
At least he admitted it.
“What did he do to JB?” I asked.
Silence. I closed my eyes as horrific scenarios assaulted me. Taunting me.
“He’s alive. He’s fine. Taken care of,” Sebastian’s voice held a trace of unease.
A tear rolled down my cheek, and I wiped it away. “Why? Why does he react like that? The man I love. The one I wake up to every day, that isn’t him.”
Sebastian blew out a breath. He’d grown up with him. Seen him at his worst.
“Thatcher is complicated. But Capri, you know that. You’ve seen it. You were warned.”
I turned around to look at him. “Warned? No, Sebastian. No one ever told me that he had done something to JB or shot Christopher. Both things happened before we got together. Yet I didn’t know about it.”
Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “Would it have stopped you from loving him? That’s what it boils down to, isn’t it? Would it have kept you from falling in love with my brother had you known?”
Thatcher’s face as we stared at each other in the mirror this morning came back to me. The vulnerability in his eyes when he looked at me while he was inside me. His arms and how safe and content I was with them wrapped around me.
“No. I don’t think anything could have stopped that. But what does that say about me? How selfish, twisted, and dark must I be to love a man to the point of obsession who can do those things to others? Has done those things. Because of me.”
“Capri!” Thatcher’s voice made me jump as I swung my eyes from Sebastian to his brother. He was walking toward us in quick, long strides. His body strung tight.
“I know it doesn’t sound like it, but you make him better. You calm him,” Sebastian said quietly.
I wanted to ask how I did that when he was slicing off fingers and shooting men over me. But he was too close.
Sebastian turned and headed toward his brother while I watched them.
The thought of a life without Thatcher was unbearable, but how could I when his loving me was dangerous to everyone I came in contact with?
• Three •
The agony in her eyes felt as if she was ripping open my chest.
Thatcher
There was a silent warning in Sebastian’s eyes when I briefly glanced at him before reaching Capri. The devastation on her face was going to result in a death. I just didn’t know whose yet.
“You need to tell me something, brother?” I asked him, a lethal warning laced in my tone. He recognized it but didn’t flinch like most men would.
“This is a conversation for you and Capri,” he said gravely.
My eyes were locked on her. Studying her closely. The demon inside me slowly morphing into a legion. This wasn’t okay. Someone had hurt her, and I didn’t allow that. Who was foolish enough to make that error? Was it the new exercise trainer?
She reached up and wiped at the tear rolling down her cheek. My skin felt tight as if it couldn’t contain the rage ready to burst free.
“Who, little doll?” My voice was closer to that of a monster than a man, but it didn’t frighten her.
Those eyes that made me believe I may have a soul stared up at me. I could hear the blood swooshing in my veins as it simmered. My sanity was snapping.
“Capri, you’ve got to say something before he goes on a killing spree,” Sebastian told her.